Herbert to lead the pack in Bahrain

Johnny Herbert took pole position on the grid of the first Speedcar Series race at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The qualifying session determined the starting grid for the first of two race days that begin tomorrow.

For most of the 45 minute qualifying, Johnny stayed ahead on the time board. The Briton was ousted by Stefan Johansson on a couple of laps before quickening his pace to record the fastest time of 2:07.007.

New entrants Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve performed fairly well considering that it was their first driving experience in the Speedcars, placing 10th and 14th respectively.

The qualifying session classification is as follows:

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	Johnny Herbert	Speedcar Team	2:07.007
2	Stefan Johansson	Speedcar Team	2:07.028
3	Nicolas Navarro	First Centreville	2:07.375
4	Uwe Alzen	Phoenix Racing	2:07.810
5	Gianni Morbidelli	Speedcar Team	2:07.843
6	David Terrien	UP Team	2:07.911
7	Jean Alesi	Speedcar Team	2:08.115
8	Marchy Lee	Speedcar Team	2:08.766
9	Hasher Al Maktoum	UP Team	2:09.082
10	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Phoenix Racing	2:09.214
11	JJ Lehto	Speedcar Team	2:09.420
12	Ukyo Katayama	Speedcar Team	2:09.688
13	Klaus Ludwig	G.P.C. Team	2:09.964
14	Jacques Villeneuve	Speedcar Team	2:10.276
15	Fabien Giroix	First Centreville	2:10.306
16	Ananda Mikola	Speedcar Team	2:10.310